KHARTOUM: Black market fuel prices surged on Saturday in Khartoum and other Sudanese towns as petrol and diesel shortages forced residents to queue for hours outside gas stations.
Fuel supplies began dwindling in early April, with officials blaming maintenance delays at a key refinery, although foreign currency shortages have also played a role.
The crisis has since escalated despite official pledges to resolve it.
The shortage has hiked prices of petrol on the black market, with a gallon costing 150 pounds ($5.30, 4.40 euros) in Khartoum, over five times the official price of 27 pounds.
“I purchased two gallons at this high cost from the black market,” said Mohamed Abbas, a resident of a working class neighborhood in the capital.
“I bought it from someone who had filled his car tank after waiting the whole night at a fuel station.”
Another Khartoum resident said that he too had waited through the night outside a fuel station to fill his tank.
“From 11:00 p.m. Friday until 7:00 am today I was waiting in my car at a fuel station,” he said.
Most petrol stations were receiving less than their alloted quotas of petrol and diesel, with attendants often keeping the outlets shut once they sold their stock.
Farmers too complained that they were unable to transport their products to market as hundreds of trucks had been grounded.
“My entire crop of tomatoes is destroyed,” said Ali Khider, a farmer from the state of Jazira.
“For a week now I have been unable to transport it to the main market because there is no vehicle.”
Officials promised a quick end to the crisis, saying it was caused by a delay in maintenance work at the country’s main refinery north of Khartoum.
But an acute shortage of foreign currency has also aggravated the situation.
“There are some oil tankers waiting at Port Sudan to be unloaded but there’s a delay in paying them,” Minister of State for Oil Saadeddin Bushra told lawmakers this week.
The crisis comes amid surging inflation that has triggered sporadic anti-government protests in Khartoum and other towns.
Sudan’s overall economy has been hit hard, particularly after the south separated from the north in 2011, taking with it about 75 percent of the country’s overall oil revenues.
Sudan fuel shortage hikes black market prices
Sudan fuel shortage hikes black market prices
- Petrol and diesel shortages force residents in Sudan to queue for hours outside gas stations
- The shortage has hiked prices of petrol on the black market
Russia says two crew members from US-seized tanker released
- “Two Russian sailors have been released and are on their way home to Russia,” Zakharova said
- Russia announced earlier this month that the US had decided to release the Russian duo
MOSCOW: Moscow said Wednesday two Russian crew members of a tanker seized this month by the United States in the Atlantic had been released and were on their way home.
US authorities took over the Russian-flagged vessel earlier this month, alleging it was part of a shadow fleet carrying oil from countries such as Venezuela, Russia and Iran in violation of US sanctions.
The United States said publicly that the Marinera’s crew could be prosecuted. Russia said that would be “categorically unacceptable” and accused Washington of stoking tensions and threatening international shipping.
“Two Russian sailors have been released and are on their way home to Russia,” foreign ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova told the state-run RIA Novosti news agency on Wednesday.
Russia announced earlier this month that the United States had decided to release the two Russian crew members, but last week its Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said the decision had not yet been implemented.
The captain and the first officer of the tanker have left UK waters, Solicitor General for Scotland, Ruth Charteris told a court hearing Tuesday, Press Association news agency reported.
“The captain and the first officer are now aboard the US Coast Guard vessel Munro and have departed the United Kingdom’s territorial sea,” Charteris said.
Twenty-six of the 28 crew have left the ship, officials told AFP. They were processed at a military site in Inverness, Scotland, the court was told, according to Press Association.
Five wanted to travel to the United States and 21 elsewhere. None have claimed asylum, the court heard.
“At the request of the US authorities, crew members have been allowed to disembark for onwards travel,” a UK government spokesperson told AFP Wednesday.
“They will be processed in line with all appropriate immigration and legal requirements.”
Britain was not involved in the movement of the other two crew members, the government said.
The United States seized the tanker, previously known as Bella 1, which was being escorted by the Russian navy, after chasing it from near the Venezuelan coast.
It was re-flagged and re-named to bring it under Russian jurisdiction in a bid to discourage the United States from trying to take it as part of its campaign against Venezuela.
